1. KARMAGEDDON: On New Year's Eve, 2005, Norv Turner was on the home sideline at the Oakland Coliseum for what he surely knew was his last game as head coach of the Oakland Raiders. On New Year's Day, 2012, Norv Turner will be on the visiting sideline at the same stadium for what is presumably his last game as head coach of the San Diego Chargers. Man, talk about your Black Hole. Get a good long look at his current Chargers players, too, because a lot of them soon will be gone as well after Sunday.

2. SILVER AND BLECH: Things are going to get ugly. Guaranteed. Hey, it’s Oakland. Now that the Raiders are so close to their first postseason berth since the last Super Bowl in San Diego, it’s amusing to think that they’re the ones who have to play with composure, clearly not an easy thing for the team just four fouls and a few penalty yards shy of the NFL’s all-time single-season records. The Chargers, meanwhile, can play like they don’t have anything else to lose. Which, of course, they don’t.

3. AULD LANG SYNE: Flash back to, say, 1964, and expect a score like 34-33 and 41-27. Both on the ground and in the air, you can unload on the Raiders, who are not that much on defense. Conversely, in addition to Michael Bush (see No. 5), the Raiders have a veteran quarterback who lights up the Chargers. In four career starts vs. San Diego, Carson Palmer has a passer rating of 129.5, including a completion percentage of 71.5, 11 touchdowns and only two interceptions. And be sure to catch this new band called the Beatles.

4. SO VERY SPECIAL: Know when the Raiders are at their absolute best? On fourth down. That’s when they break out their big guns, placekicker Sebastian Janikowski and punter Shane Lechler, both of whom could kick in the Pro Bowl without having to leave the Mainland. Granted, his NFL record-tying field goal of 63 yards was at altitude in Denver, but the Raiders don’t even need to cross the 50 to get into Janikowski’s range. Lechler’s had three punts of 76 yards or longer this season, 11 boots of 70 yards or more over his career. Conversely, the Raiders have one of the NFL’s best-ever field-goal blockers in veteran defensive lineman Richard Seymour, who foiled three-point attempts at the end of both halves last Sunday. Mike Scifres, too, needs no reminders of the treatment he got in his last visit to Oakland.

5. THAT’S BUSH: Raiders running back Michael Bush should be on the lead motorcycle giving escort to the Chargers’ team bus to the stadium, so certain does he want to be that the Bolts make it on time. In an NFL career that’s been otherwise unremarkable – mostly due to his own injuries, but also to the Raiders’ reliance on Darren McFadden – Bush has rushed for a total of 356 yards and caught six passes for 116 yards in the last three games against San Diego. He’s scored in each of them, too.